Erasmus lives: EU finds funds for popular student exchange scheme

May 25, 2013|Reuters

By Anders Melin

BRUSSELS, May 25 (Reuters) - Famous Europeans from Nobellaureates to Olympic champions have fought to save it and nowfunding has finally been found to ensure that Erasmus, thestudent exchange programme that is one of the European Union'smost successful initiatives, lives on.

Named after a Dutch Renaissance philosopher, Erasmus hasallowed more than 3 million students from around the EuropeanUnion to spend a year studying in another EU country or beyond,giving young minds an immersion in other languages and cultures.

What began with a handful of adventurous students in 1987has grown into arguably the most effective EU-financededucational programme, underpinning the union's original idealsof shared values and closer European integration.

It sent 270,000 young Europeans to study abroad in the2012-2013 academic year alone.

But with the age of austerity and budget cuts biting acrossthe continent, Erasmus was in line to have its funding cut, withits 2012 budget facing a 90 million euro shortfall.

After lobbying from Erasmus alumni and luminaries fromacross the EU - including 2010 Nobel economics laureateChristopher Pissarides of Cyprus, and Elisa Di Francisca, anItalian Olympic fencing champion - financing has been found fromEU development funds to keep the programme going.

In all, the European Commission announced this week that 2.5billion euros from the 2014-2020 development aid budget will gotowards education, with some 1.5 billion of that set aside forErasmus for All, which will further expand the programme'sgeographic reach beyond Europe and its neighbouring states.

Hans Ahl, a professor at Mid Sweden University who has beeninvolved with the programme for more than a decade called theplan a "wise proposal".

"From a political and humanitarian standpoint I believe itis crucial that we connect with other cultures and differentways to think on a daily basis," Ahl told Reuters.

Erasmus has also gained attention in recent years as acounterforce to Europe's climbing youth unemployment. Severalstudies have shown that compared with their peers, participantsin the scheme are more likely to find jobs and pursue advanceddegrees.